Tech-world wonders, cyber art and Windows 7...
Photos of the month - April 2009
silicon.com's Natasha Lomas selected her seven modern wonders of the world in April and the Hubble Space Telescope is one of the tech achievements that made the list.
You can't get much more cutting edge than recording the moment a star is born and looking into the depths of the universe.
See what else made the grade.
Photo credit: Nasa
silicon.com's Tim Ferguson travelled to Portugal to see how 2004 European Cup winner, FC Porto, uses video security and networking technology at their Estádio do Dragão ground in Porto.
Above is the game control room at the stadium where security staff control the 139 CCTV cameras during match days to monitor crowd activity.
See how it all works in the full photo story.
Photo credit: Tim Ferguson/silicon.com
In Japan, the Honda Research Institute and precision-equipment manufacturer Shimadzu unveiled a robot that can be controlled by thought alone.
The user is shown a card with a picture of a hand on it. After the user thinks about his hand, the command from the user's brain is wirelessly transferred to Honda's Asimo humanoid robot.
Check out what else the robot can do.
Photo credit: Honda
With Windows 7 release candidate 1 released to the public, silicon.com sister site ZDNet Australia took a sneak peek.
Here you can see the basic desktop is quite similar to that of the beta of Windows 7, with a few tweaks such as a slight change in the graphic for the start button.
Check out what else Windows 7 has in store in the picture gallery.
Photo credit: Renai LeMay/ZDNet.com.au
London restaurant and bar inamo has done away with menus in favour of ordering through your table with the tap of a fingertip.
silicon.com's Jo Best went down to give the system a try. Shown here are some of the seats that can use the interactive system.
See how it all works here.
Photo credit: inamo
silicon.com took a look at 10 ways to pimp your BlackBerry after the manufacturer of the device, RIM, jumped aboard the app store bandwagon, launching BlackBerry App World in April.
This app is the Good Beer Guide Mobile Edition, which turns your BlackBerry into a UK drinker's bible using your GPS to determine your current location and direct you to the best pubs.
See what else you can do to make your BlackBerry that bit more bling.
Image credit: Good Beer Guide
The British Music Experience (BME) recently opened at the O2 in East London and provides a high-tech tour of UK music's rich and varied history.
Visitors can scan their RFID-equipped smart ticket on the keyboard (as shown above) which allows them to access extra content via the MyBME website at a later date.
See how else technology is used to bring music history to life.
Photo credit: Tim Ferguson/silicon.com
The latest biometric technology for accessing buildings was on display recently at the launch of the Unisys Security Index and silicon.com's Nick Heath went to take a look.
This shows how users can register to use a scanner by placing a smartcard on a wireless interface at the top of the device and placing their hand underneath. The scanner then stores the reflected vascular pattern of the hand on the smartcard.
Find out more about how the tech works in the full photo story.
Photo credit: Nick Heath/silicon.com
At April's RSA Conference in April, artist Alex Dragulescu showed off his new artwork depicting computational representations of code using actual code from a range of viruses.
This is DegreesDiploma5 which arrives in victims' inboxes as spam, promoting university degrees.
See what other cyber-art Dragulescu created for the event.
Photo credit: Alex Dragulescu
silicon.com also took a look at the tech used by the crews taking part in the annual round-the-world yacht endurance competition, the Volvo Ocean Race.
Here navigator Aksel Magdahl checks the weather onboard Ericsson 3, on leg five of the race, from Qingdao to Rio de Janeiro. Each boat receives a constant stream of race-related information every day.
See what other tech the crews depend on in the full photo story.
Photo credit: Gustav Morin/Ericsson 3/Volvo Ocean Race
Sony showed off its video security in the Palácio do Gelo shopping centre in the town of Viseu, east of Porto in northern Portugal.
As well as security, the network controls a number of digital information displays. This one provides information on the films being shown in the shopping centre's cinema.
See what other technology is being used to make Palácio do Gelo more secure.
Photo credit: Tim Ferguson/silicon.com
Twice per year, Orange stages La Collection in Paris to reveal its up and coming kit and silicon.com went along to check out what's on the mobile operator's drawing board.
One of the pieces of hardware on show at La Collection is Orange's Hi-Fi Adapter, shown here, which allows the user to play MP3 and web radio through an average hi-fi.
See what else Orange has up its sleeve here.
Photo credit: Jo Best/silicon.com
Boston hosted the RoboBusiness conference in April with the robotics industry showing off its finest gadgetry.
The Surface Mobility Platform developed by Gears Educational Systems can be used by schools as the basis for robot projects. This prototype features a 50-watt engine and four-wheel drive.
Photo credit: Jonathan Skillings/CNET
Microsoft announced the latest version of Exchange in April - an application used by 65 per cent of businesses globally.
This shows the application following readiness checks after which the install takes place.
See what the big changes are in the image gallery here.
Photo credit: Chris Duckett/ZDNet.com.au
silicon.com also took a look at how King's College Hospital is planning to move towards self-service healthcare with Europe's largest rollout of touchscreen medical kiosks.
From early autumn patients at the London hospital will be greeted by the NCR MediKiosk, a touchscreen computer that allows patients to notify hospital staff they have arrived and update their contact details.
See what else the hospital is planning to do with the technology here.
Photo credit: NCR Corporation